Rajya Sabha uproar: Kharge claims SIR riddled with fraud, Chairman rejects charge

The Rajya Sabha witnessed heated exchanges as Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge accused the ongoing SIR voter verification exercise of being fraudulent and irregular. Chairman CP Radhakrishnan rejected Kharge’s claims, refusing to allow further discussion.

New Delhi: Minutes after the House convened for the second day, the Rajya Sabha witnessed noisy and uproarious scenes over the SIR exercise, currently underway in poll-bound states and also saw the Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and House Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan engaging in a brief verbal exchange.

Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that the SIR drive, being conducted in name of voter verification is fraught with multiple irregularities and malpractices, prompting a quick intervention by the Chairman, who refused to accept the charge.

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As Kharge emphatically called SIR a “fraud”, Congress MPs rallied behind him by echoing the claims.

Radhakrishnan promptly rejected the charge, “In Tamil Nadu, it is not” and refused the LoP to proceed further with his ‘uncorroborated’ claims.

As the duo sought to prevail over each other, the Upper House witnessed chaotic scenes as Congress members backed Kharge and shouted slogans to support him, thereby disrupting the House proceedings. But, the Chairman didn’t relent and refused to give permission for the same.

Lashing out at the government and EC, Kharge said, “What Derek O’Brien raised in the House, it is very important. Everywhere, SIR is going fraud is being done to win elections including Tamil Nadu, Bengal and elsewhere.”

Radhakrishnan, objecting to Kharge’s charges said, “You see the situation in Bengal. This is not correct, what you are saying is not correct.”

Kharge reiterated “Fraud, fraud, fraud” backed by the clamour of party MPs, to which Radhakrishnan replied, “I am not allowing it.”

Earlier, Trinamool MP Derek O’Brien raised the issue of SIR and said that this was not an electoral reform but gross violation of people’s rights in the name of a voter verification drive. He also took potshots at the Chief Election Commissioner, claiming that the exercise was being carried out by a “highly unreliable” person.

The SIR exercise, currently underway in multiple states including poll-bound ones like Tamil Bengal, West Bengal has left the Congress and INDIA Bloc up in arms, who see this as a EC ‘ploy’ to benefit the ruling BJP.